by Mark Russo
As my heart pounded in my chest, the fight intensified and got closer to me. My head hurt even more, my vision more compromised.
Mr. Sweet’s army finally implemented an offensive strategy as well. The same light effects he had unsuccessfully used to impress me were now a weapon. How that worked, I had no idea, but the pile of black fluid didn’t appreciate their proximity.
It recoiled in an attempt to avoid the gleaming balls surrounding it.
It took me less than a minute to realize that strategy was not proving effective. The mysterious entity dismissed the energy spheres and destroyed another of the Doubles with a swing of its deformed limbs.
I had to do something, but a terrible pain hit my head, like a sudden, unexpected migraine. I collapsed on my knees, like my body had become unbearably heavy. My eyes widened, and my hands raised, as if an external force had lifted them. I looked forward, and I focused on the monster that haunted my dreams.
It bent on a side, and its body twisted and squirmed. The peculiar thing with all that was I was forcing the monster to do so. I also lifted and hurled it against a rock wall on its right-hand side as it whimpered and whined.
Mr. Sweet’s luminescent spheres attacked the mysterious creature again, and the aberration stopped moving.
“Is it dead?” I asked.
“Are you aware of what you just did, kiddo?”
“Is that beast dead?”
“It’s not that easy. In this place, you do not live and die like humans do. I’ll ask again. Do you know what you just did?”
I shook my head.
“You used a skill nobody taught you. You improvised something. This is something very, very advanced. How did you do it?”
“I don’t know. What was the creature that attacked us?” I would have pointed at it, but it was no longer there.
“That? That is a Vara. Not anything important. A parasite, a sleep one. Why didn't you tell me about it?”
I stuttered a few inconclusive sounds.
“Whatever, Emma. It’s a small thing. It may visit you again in the future. Or in the past, I don’t know.”
I had no idea what he meant and was about to ask for an explanation; however, I was preoccupied with what my eyes saw. We took a few steps out of the cave, and things looked like nothing I ever imagined. We were in an open dessert-like wasteland and everything as far as I could see still gleamed in that sick green light. A majestic hole in the obscurity of the sky drew my attention.
“I get it. You think that is unbelievable and blah blah. I, personally, like it as well. We call it the Upwards Gorge.”
“How does it work? How can there be a hole in the sky?”
“Again, human, Plane K does not follow the rules of your world. That hole is familiar. It has always been there. Do you want to go inside it?”
“Is that possible?” I grinned. “I would love to. Will we fall in to it, if we walk too close?”
“No. There're stairs.” He gestured to a point far ahead.
I didn’t understand what he was pointing at. “That makes sense. Stairs. So, we go in there.”
“Exactly. We’ll explore the gorge. It’ll be fun.”
I stopped walking. “What are you? For real. I don’t think you were born a stuffed animal.”
“Wow. That was smart. Why you would be interested in that? Whatever. I can share. They call us Tricksters here.”
I shrugged. “That means nothing to me.”
“Path of Mind, like you. I was a master on that. Now, well … I can’t say. They demoted me somehow.” He treaded forward.
“It’s still very confusing. Can you please explain?” I chased after him.
“There are different Paths. I shared this with you already. Think of them as a variety of school subjects but cooler.”
I scoffed from frustration. “You already told me that. I don’t need this theoretical stuff. I want more detail.”
“Ah, so now you want to know more. I like that. Okay. I’ll allow you one question. Use it well.”
I wondered how far a teddy bear would land after being kicked with all my strength.
“You said the Paths are part of a different type of knowledge, like school subjects. How do I study? How do I improve?”
He slowed his pace and addressed my question with a low voice. “You already do that. The thing you did to the Vara back in the cave was not anything I taught you. It’s something you discovered for yourself.”
Again, I suppressed the desire to attack him. “How do I do that intentionally? Is there a method, a strategy?”
“I said one question, remember?” He pointed at me. “Anyhow, I’ll tell you this. You don’t progress on a Path by following a plan or a blueprint. You go by trial and error, you improvise, you fuck up and get it right. Me talking about this is not helping but hindering.” Then he turned and ran.
Fifty meters ahead, I finally saw those stairs he had mentioned, those that climbed into the hole in the sky, the Upwards Gorge.
“How is it even possible this place exists?” I asked while staring up in the gorge's profundity.
“I told you already. You can’t think Plane K follows the same rules your plane does. Here, it’s just different.” He climbed the stairs, keeping one full pace ahead of me.
“Why are you so far ahead of me? Is this place even worse than what we just faced?”
He cackled. “I don’t think what inhabits this place might bring any harm to you.” He continued laughing.
“What does that mean? Are you making fun of me in a way I do not get?”
He was improving in emulating human behavior. “Quite the opposite, Emma. The exact opposite, actually. Look at the other side of the gorge. Do you see those stairs there? The Upwards Gorge has some on both of its sides.”
“Okay, yes. We’re climbing this side, and there are more stairs. What is your point?”
“Why don’t you look on the other side more attentively? You may find yourself surprised.”
I did. I looked where the bear wanted me to. At first, I thought he was still making fun of me. It took me some time, but I eventually spotted something moving. Many little creatures were sprawling in many directions, like a colony of ants after a bored kid wrecked their nest.
“What are those? Will they attack us?”
“They are retreating, Emma,” he said from two stone steps above me.
“Are those … What are they even called? Are those escaping from us?”
He finally faced me. “Yes, those creatures are Itchlings. Once again, yes, they’re escaping from the two of us.”
I stopped and looked at them fleeing from the bear, from me. I was a threat, a dangerous enemy coming too close.
“Don’t get all flattered, human. Itchlings are very weak and yellow-bellied.”
I shrugged, but I didn’t see his point.
“Something doesn’t add up,” he said, cutting our conversation short. “Remain silent. Can you do that this time?”
I didn’t answer, better not make him angry again.
He inspected the surrounding area, his puffy head scooping around like a dog on the trail of some food he previously hid. He spent another minute staring at his feet before talking again. “Here. This step here. Do you remember it?” He pointed at a spot, a tiny crack in the stone, like another dozen I could see.
I shook my head.
He lowered his voice again, pestering that hole with one of his paws. “I don’t want to scare you. Please do as I say. I’m trying to understand what—”
The stairs slid forward, like a pirate ship plank.
“I guess this is not normal.”
The bear squinted at me.
“He found us. I have no idea how he managed to. What matters now is—let me repeat myself here—that you do exactly as I say.”
I kneeled by his side.
“He’s hiding. He wants to scare us off. First thing we do is keep our minds safe. Think you are alone in your head. Nothing and no one e
lse may take it over, and you have full control over yourself. I own my mind. Repeat it.”
We both repeated those words, that mantra. We slid forward on the extending plank as my mouth pronounced those words, that obvious fact. I focused on that. I own my mind. I didn’t know what we were trying to avoid or accomplish, but I felt stronger somehow. My body and mind were one.
“We don’t want to fight him. We don’t stand a chance. All we need to do is wait for the perfect moment to get the hell out of Dodge.”
“Okay. I’ll follow your lead.”
We kept sliding up the so-called escalator. It was pure chance that I looked down and saw the crack in the wall Mr. Sweet had gone nuts about.
Someone got us stuck in a loop. What we were seeing was not real. Those stone walls, the sight I had into the void of the gorge, my very body position, I had seen them all a moment before. Possibly more than once.
“Someone is playing with our minds. Who’s doing this to us?”
“Someone we really don’t want to mess with. We better leave. Somehow.”
I grabbed my bear and ran downstairs in the direction we had come from. At least that would give us some time.
“I didn’t think about this. Anyhow, it will not be enough.”
I didn’t listen. I just kept running up those stairs. Much sooner than I expected, we reached the end. I headed right, toward the cave. Maybe there we would have found our magic door to my room. I was soon disappointed.
Something stood just before the entrance to the lair. This other creature had a much more definite shape—a humanoid one, much taller than a man and scrawny. Its skin was black, and its face was missing all human features—no eyes, nose, or mouth.
“You are stupid, Emma. Do you really think you can come here and escape freely?”
I knew now. I probably would have died in that Plane K place, far from everything I call familiar. “I came here to bring you what you wanted.” I had no idea if he would buy that.
The monster's true appearance hovered toward me. “I asked for him to be dead.”
Mr. Sweet writhed and plummeted to the ground. When he hit the soft and brittle soil of his plane, his body turned to dust and disappeared.
The beast laughed. “Your small-time tricks won’t help much, my sweet friend. I can already see you.”
“Well, Aaragul. I don’t plan to die today, not even if you agreed so with my human.”
I could taste some bitterness in his words. I had betrayed him; I could expect him not to be happy about it. Or he thought so.
Aaragul disappeared.
Mr. Sweet had said the Path of Mind allows no teleportation skill. What was that, then? It still defied my understanding. I ran behind a big rock, just before the cavern’s entrance. I had no clue if I was actually hiding from anyone’s sight. While facing the Vara before, the adrenaline peak played in my favor. I assumed being absolutely terrified would have helped as well. I conjured as many Doubles I could, and I ordered them to scatter all around the area.
I could not hear from either of the two demons—I had decided they were that to me—and it was not a good sign. It became more than clear when an overwhelming force threw me into the air, with no time to react. Flying in Plane K differed totally from what I had experienced in TL. It felt real; my body pierced the air like a projectile. I realized while skyrocketing in the obscurity of Plane K that its air had a peculiar taste—somewhere between honey and ginger.
When I reached the highest point possible, I fell back to the ground. It was time for thinking, and I had to do it fast. I looked down, and more than a dozen other mes stared up. For Aaragul, it was blatant which was the real me. I contemplated changing place with one; it didn’t matter which one. I really didn’t feel like experiencing crashing to the ground, even if I was not in Switzerland anymore. It was as simple as that. I now stood in the middle of the small army of me-people.
“You’re a fast learner, Emma. I’ll enjoy killing you even more.” The disembodied voice, this time, was the faceless one’s.
I didn’t comment. Many other Doubles surrounded me. I added even more to the crowd and ordered them to scatter. I randomly exchanged my position with them as they tried to leave behind that dreadful enemy.
I blinked from one Double to another; it got confusing from all the different points of view I was exchanging, but I was distancing myself from danger. After some more rushing, I found myself alone. I had passed the entrance to the gorge into another of those wastelands.
“I don’t think he was serious when he said he wanted to kill us.” Mr. Sweet, somehow, had tagged along, popping out from behind my back.
I didn’t bother asking or wondering how he had done that. I was way too tired.
He rapidly opened another crack in the reality of Plane K, and we escaped.
On the other side of the gate, EIBM’s main hall awaited us.
“I thought we would end up in my room,” I said.
“These things are not that precise, Emma.”
“I didn’t mean to kill you.”
“I’m more than sure you would not. I told you, Plane K people do not die that easily.”
“What really drives me mad is you didn’t talk with me about Aaragul. He probably only wanted to scare us, but he’ll return to finish what he started.” He really was angry.
I crossed my arms. “I got scared. I don’t know how to deal with you … demons.”
He tilted his head. “Demons. I like that. I’m a demon. Cool.”
I didn’t expect him to say that. “Is there a way to stay safe from Aaragul?”
Mr. Sweet regarded me from his fifty centimeter-height body. “Let’s go to your room. I don’t want anyone to overhear this conversation.”
He was serious, so I followed him in complete silence.
Not a minute later, he was looking for something in one drawer of my kitchenette.
“May I ask why you are ransacking my apartment?”
He didn’t turn to me. “I’m looking for something to carve your flesh.” It didn’t sound like a joke at all.
“Why do we need to do that?” It was not the worst I had been through those days, but still.
“To keep you away from him. There are few ways to ward off a Grand Master.”
“I guess that is much more than what I am,. right?”
“You’re a novice, Emma. The first step along the Path. He’s at the last one. The thing is, each step grants different skills and makes way more powerful than those you already have. Each step is a whole new world. You can’t win any direct confrontation with him.”
“So, we keep that from happening by scratching my skin?”
He emerged from the depths of that piece of hyper-modern furniture with a carving knife I didn’t even know they had provided me. “It’ll hurt a little, but magic requires sacrifice. Pick one of your wrists.”
My choice fell on my left one.
He rapidly approached and gave me the knife. “Cut diagonally. It doesn’t matter how deep.”
I took a deep breath and let the sharp blade penetrate my skin. It didn’t hurt, and all the blood that poured out rapidly evaporated in a crimson plume.
“This will keep that demon away. You don’t remove or damage the mark.”
“If this keeps me safe, I won’t.” I touched the raised scar with my other hand, and it didn’t hurt. The line on my wrist was already sealed and barely visible.
“Practice, human. Aaragul won’t reach out to you soon, but he will eventually.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“Tea?”
I chuckled. “Why do you offer something I will have to prepare?”
“I wanted to be a polite bear. That’s all.”
8
Mr. Sweet
I guess they would say it was cold behind the EIBM’s building that early in the morning. To me, it really didn’t matter. I had no idea what feeling cold or warm meant. It was a fact, though, that the Shadow I had used to locate
James was late. Those creatures do not improvise; something had happened, and I needed to investigate.
I headed left onto the cobblestone path that lead into the woods. I would visit the rift. Checking on it and seeing if that Shadow was waiting for me there was killing two birds with one stone. It was still quite dark, but I knew where to go. I asked myself if we should have expected some snow in that area. I was not familiar with weather conditions. Plane K has no weather variations.
Clumps of grass and fallen leaves covered most of the path among the trees. It looked like they did not maintain it often. To an attentive observer, it would have been a clue that EIBM was only a facade for a much bigger purpose.
I pushed deeper into the woods, heading for the rift. A twig breaking behind me caught my attention, probably a curious animal that got too close. I looked back, just to be sure none of the humans were behind me. Maybe I was being overcautious, but better safe than sorry.
When I reached the rift, I noticed it was even smaller than the last time I saw it with Charles. Its shape garnered the most attention. It had become a sharp and clear circle, like some humans had worked on it again. I did not have enough information to establish if something had entered the humans' world, but it was probable that thing, whatever it was, lurked among the surrounding trees. I searched the area far and wide, but I came up emptyhanded.
On top of all that, the Shadow was not here.
“And because of this, you say we should interrupt our experiment,” Charles repeated for the third time.
“Yes, you got it right. I hope you won’t ask me to repeat myself again,” I said from the chair in front of his desk.
“I’m sorry, but I really can’t see your point.”
If I only could, I would have stabbed him repeatedly. It was just I was not carrying a knife in that moment. “Let me explain, once again. Wait for me to finish before you ask questions, okay?”
He nodded and shrugged, which made me doubt he was with me. Already.
